Health & Safety Testing

We examine the dynamic relationship between your combustion appliances and the rest your home.

We will develop a safe, common sense strategy to improve energy efficiency that won't negatively impact how your combustion appliances perform.  We test for:
  • Gas leaks from the meter to the appliances.
  • Proper appliance performance and ventilation - your home's structure and modern conveniences (bathroom fans, range hoods, clothes dryers, etc.) change air pressures throughout the home and this can impact how effectively your heating and cooling appliances perform.  Improperly ventilated major appliances can have a detrimental impact on you and your family's health.
Draft – the strength of the appliances draft is important for the exiting of flue gas and is impacted by, among other things, the slope of the flue and atmospheric conditions.

Spillage – Spillage occurs when flue gas is unable to vent properly through the flue and “spills” back into the building.  A blocked flue, over-sized flue or not enough combustion air is often the culprit.  In the case of the latter, the appliance is essentially losing the physics battle to the building. Other appliances and/or stack effect (see below) are depriving the struggling appliance of much-needed combustion air.  Unfortunately, appliances such as a natural draft water heater do not have a mechanism to detect and correct for spillage.  The use of a properly installed carbon monoxide monitor and periodic testing can give you peace of mind.  When replacing combustion appliances, consider fan-assisted or closed-combustion models, as they won’t succumb to competing appliances or stack effect so easily.

Carbon monoxide (CO) to ensure that acceptable combustion levels are being achieved.  Unsafe levels of CO can cause headaches, nausea, weakness, shortness of breath – and sometimes death. 
           
Carbon monoxide-related deaths number in the hundreds and emergency room visits number in the thousands on an annual basis. This is why testing combustion appliance performance before and after the installation of energy efficiency measures is very important.  

Combustion appliance testing may not be the first thing you think of when considering an energy assessment, but when viewed in the context of "the house as a system", it is a crucial part of the evaluation. 

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